I don't see the problem then. Microsoft is under extensive scrutiny as a result of past behavior. Apple is not. Apple can integrate P2P functionality into their OS without issue because they have not done anything egregious enough to warrant extensive observation. Microsoft cannot integrate P2P functionality without at least a cursory review of whether they can/will use it to damage the market.
Case in point, they didn't "punish" HP for bundling iTunes or integrating iTunes into Media Center nor selling iPods as iPod+HP.
What is YOUR problem here? That Microsoft is being held to a different standard? You realize that if Microsoft were a person, they would currently be either under probation or parole, and as such would have review boards, parole officers, and live under higher scrutiny than Apple or most other people.
Microsoft used their Windows OS monopoly to threaten Compaq to withdraw support for the competing Netscape Navigator when Microsoft wanted IE to win the browser wars.
Apple does not use their OS or their iPod to threaten anyone with anything if they install, integrate, or develop alternative BT clients and technologies because Apple isn't trying to win the P2P wars.
Do you see the difference yet? Microsoft uses their monopoly in an abusive way. Apple does not.
Your point doesn't negate mine. Just because Apple is proprietary and protective does not mean they have acted in an anticompetitive way, unless you happen to mean uncompetitive. Apple's behavior has hurt itself.
The reason Microsoft is in a class of it's own is that it is so dominant that it can choose behavior that would punish a lesser company, but get away with it because it is a de facto monopoly. An anticompetitive action from Apple might be if they, tomorrow, decided that all iPods would only support AAC and not MP3 and iTunes would automatically convert all user MP3s into AAC.
If Apple builds a BT client into the OS, how is it different than Microsoft doing it with IE?
Let us look at past behavior then: Safari vs IE. Safari is an application that uses WebKit. As such WebKit is integrated into the OS, while the web browser is not. You are free to remove Safari, replace it with FireFox, or replace it with OmniWeb, which is another web browser based on WebKit. Apple also uses WebKit in Dashboard, Help, and probably Mail.
You cannot do so with IE; if Microsoft had developed mshtml.dll and then turned IE into an app, rather than an integrated part of the OS, then users would be free to delete IE.
So projecting with BT; Apple would release a library called NetGrid and on top of that build SoftwareUpdate. On top of that, for example, Opera or OmniWeb may use NetGrid as well. Adding NetGrid to the OS is a smart act, one not of bundling but of integration. Perhaps they would then integrate NetGrid into iTunes, iChat, Backup, and also continue to expose the library for other developers to use.
Microsoft, in comparison, would include msbt.dll into XP and add it to Automatic Update and Windows Media Player as well, and then threaten HP to rescind their OS license if they bundle their machines with iTunes, which uses NetGrid, a competing media distribution network library.
See the difference? Microsoft has in the past threatened their licensees in order to squash the competition. Apple has done nothing of the sort in their integration of WebKit, CoreAudio, CoreData, CoreGraphics, etc.
Microsoft would not have this problem if they did not abuse their monopoly. The idea is not to force Microsoft to allow the removal of every single feature, but to prevent them from abusing their monopoly. If they wrote their OS as independent and interchangeable components then it means Compaq, if they so wished, could replace IE7 with FireFox and everything would still work. Or HP could replace Windows Media Player with iTunes and everything would still work.
Apple actually does make it possible to delete everything; you'd have a fairly useless system, but just about everything can be deleted because everything is written as standalone components that utilize built in libraries. That is generally considered good engineering practice, while Microsoft's habit of integrating everything tightly is considered bad engineering practice.
Imagine if you couldn't replace your toaster without also replacing your fridge, oven, dishwasher, and smoke detector. That's how Microsoft builds Windows. Apple at least will create general purpose libraries that allow the application developer, including Apple, the ability to swap out libraries or swap out applications without interference.
There is a difference. Microsoft integrates both the library and the application, where Apple only integrates the library; you can choose to remove the application if you wish.
In addition there is a crucial difference that he failed to mention, and is why Microsoft is in trouble where Apple is not, and that makes all the difference.
Microsoft was found guilty of abuse of their monopoly, chiefly for threatening Compaq with withdrawing their Windows licenses if they bundled Netscape Navigator.
So three key differences now: A) Microsoft is a monopoly, Apple is not B) Microsoft integrates applications, Apple integrates libraries C) Microsoft abused it's monopoly, Apple has no monopoly to abuse
A) is starting to change with the increasing popularity of the iPod. It remains to be seen if Apple will refrain from anti-competitive practices, such as bullying Walmart and Best Buy with the success of the iPod.
Of course, because MS has demonstrated anticompetitive behavior in the past. A link to a similar response to a similar post in this very article thread here!
The gist is: Microsoft threatened Compaq to pull their Windows license if Compaq installed Netscape Navigator. Apple has not done any such thing with their OS, so they aren't under scrutiny.
If you're going to complain about how people treat MS, at least understand WHY people treat MS differently too.
If MS did not abuse their monopoly, then no problems would have occurred and no one would have complained.
What MS did, specifically, was to extort Compaq by threatening to withhold OS licenses if they shipped systems with Netscape Navigator as the default and on the desktop.
In other words, if Apple threatened Best Buy and Walmart into stopping sales of competitive MP3 players, or PCs, with their iPod dominance then Apple would be in the same boat.
Having played the game, I honestly don't see HOW you could do that.
How do you integrate into gameplay the scene where Axel goes, "Silly, some of us don't have next lives," or where Sora cries and says, "You know, I'm sad,"?
Movies and text are legitimate story telling mechanisms; games that utilize movies and text are richer than games that do not utilize movies and text, though not necessarily stronger.
Of course all that means is that KHII is a vehicle in which you play the game in order to see the movies; if you don't want to see the movies, there really is little point to playing the game*
*I love the Gummi Ship game, so I actually play the game to unlock more Gummi Routes and create cooler Gummi Ships.
I dunno, holding hands doesn't seem to qualify as "sexual". On the other hand, "Physical contact with a female breast" seems to describe breastfeeding, doesn't it?
How empty. So is it "Looks high end" or "Sounds high end"? Did you read the article? They address stereo separation in the article, and the balance between size, portability, and affordability. I mean, you talk about how much you lose by going iPod enabled... how much do you lose by being tethered to a power cable? Or requiring a carrying case to move the speakers?
The answer is no: the reason why the drive didn't (and still doesn't) fit in the 15" MacBook Pro is because the wider trackpad mechanism Apple chose to use encroaches internally on the space needed for a 12mm drive by about 1/8" laterally. However, this is not the case on the 17" MacBook Pro.
The trackpad interferes with the 12mm drive but not with the 9mm drive. I bet the edge of the trackpad, by his description, rests slightly over the 9mm drive, but the 12mm drive has no such leeway. On a 17" MBP there is no need for overlapping the devices because the 17" MBP is that much bigger than a 15" MBP
Again, read the post. The trackpad lies on top of the space the 12mm DL DVD-RW drive would sit, so they used the 8mm DVD-RW drive instead in the 15" MBP.
I wouldn't venture that. They grew from 10,000 customers to 4.2 million customers; today they mail about 1.4 million DVDs a day, and if the ration of 1:3 held then they shipped 3,333 DVDs a day in the beginning.
At today's cost if the difference between the red envelope and a white envelope is $0.002, then NetFlix will be saving throughout the course of the year $1.022 million. If every envelope change cost them $10,000 in effort , and they changed envelopes 10 times then they will have spent $100,000 and saved $900,000 in this year alone.
Oh right, consumers don't care about looks, build quality, ease of use, or convenience any more? Storage density or price is all that matters now, right?
As a business Apple needs to maintain profitability. I'm sure they'll refresh to 6gb and 10gb later this year, but if they do it too early then the cost vs price is too high and if they do it too late then the sales interest will drop.
We're sending DVDs. In case you weren't aware, DVDs have several properties unlike letters: 1) Rigid 2) Reflective 3) Smooth
If your package alters any of those three properties then your DVD has become a coaster.
Additionally your package has other constraints outside of mailing DVDs: 1) Easy to use 2) Cheap 3) Useful
Cheap means making them lighter and more durable. Useful means making them more productive in the warehouse and as advertising. Easy to use means more users.
If you want to learn the guitar, you get a guitar. If you want to shoot a cop, you get a gun. If instead you want to have fun, you get Guitar Hero or GTA!
Well then, now you're comparing the SDKs from ID and Valve, aren't you? The original HL was based solidly on Quake, even if the engine was updated by Valve, so a lot of the basic stuff would still be sourced from ID.
The new HL2 is totally new, so there is no common descent from Quake3 or Doom3. Id's had several years and generations to get this stuff right, and Valve only one generation of development.
Just because you don't like the practice doesn't make it wrong.
If Apple release OS X 10.5 as a public beta with the written advisement that: 1) Your system may be corrupted at any time, so back up 2) Your system will expire in 40 days, so back up 3) Your system will be unstable, so back up
You actually have two choices: Whether to install or not Whether to back up or not
If you choose to install, Apple says, "Please back up often" If you choose not to install, then you don't have to worry.
In no case has Apple wronged you, and the whole POINT of beta is to increase testing. Now Apple has real problems documented by users that they can fix. That is exactly how a successful beta works. Apple fixes the problems, and releases another beta, and users report more problems.
Games are just one of many activities a person can pursue. It doesn't seem surprising that teens would spend less time gaming if there are more things to do right?
Hard core gaming is no more unusual than hard core gardening or hard core house decoration. It's really just another hobby.
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Except for the fact that you can burn CDs of DRMed products, rendering the DRM null and void.
Burning to CD is also a lossless endeavor.
I don't see the problem then. Microsoft is under extensive scrutiny as a result of past behavior. Apple is not. Apple can integrate P2P functionality into their OS without issue because they have not done anything egregious enough to warrant extensive observation. Microsoft cannot integrate P2P functionality without at least a cursory review of whether they can/will use it to damage the market.
Case in point, they didn't "punish" HP for bundling iTunes or integrating iTunes into Media Center nor selling iPods as iPod+HP.
What is YOUR problem here? That Microsoft is being held to a different standard? You realize that if Microsoft were a person, they would currently be either under probation or parole, and as such would have review boards, parole officers, and live under higher scrutiny than Apple or most other people.
Microsoft used their Windows OS monopoly to threaten Compaq to withdraw support for the competing Netscape Navigator when Microsoft wanted IE to win the browser wars.
Apple does not use their OS or their iPod to threaten anyone with anything if they install, integrate, or develop alternative BT clients and technologies because Apple isn't trying to win the P2P wars.
Do you see the difference yet?
Microsoft uses their monopoly in an abusive way. Apple does not.
Your point doesn't negate mine. Just because Apple is proprietary and protective does not mean they have acted in an anticompetitive way, unless you happen to mean uncompetitive. Apple's behavior has hurt itself.
The reason Microsoft is in a class of it's own is that it is so dominant that it can choose behavior that would punish a lesser company, but get away with it because it is a de facto monopoly. An anticompetitive action from Apple might be if they, tomorrow, decided that all iPods would only support AAC and not MP3 and iTunes would automatically convert all user MP3s into AAC.
If Apple builds a BT client into the OS, how is it different than Microsoft doing it with IE?
Let us look at past behavior then: Safari vs IE.
Safari is an application that uses WebKit. As such WebKit is integrated into the OS, while the web browser is not. You are free to remove Safari, replace it with FireFox, or replace it with OmniWeb, which is another web browser based on WebKit. Apple also uses WebKit in Dashboard, Help, and probably Mail.
You cannot do so with IE; if Microsoft had developed mshtml.dll and then turned IE into an app, rather than an integrated part of the OS, then users would be free to delete IE.
So projecting with BT; Apple would release a library called NetGrid and on top of that build SoftwareUpdate. On top of that, for example, Opera or OmniWeb may use NetGrid as well. Adding NetGrid to the OS is a smart act, one not of bundling but of integration. Perhaps they would then integrate NetGrid into iTunes, iChat, Backup, and also continue to expose the library for other developers to use.
Microsoft, in comparison, would include msbt.dll into XP and add it to Automatic Update and Windows Media Player as well, and then threaten HP to rescind their OS license if they bundle their machines with iTunes, which uses NetGrid, a competing media distribution network library.
See the difference? Microsoft has in the past threatened their licensees in order to squash the competition. Apple has done nothing of the sort in their integration of WebKit, CoreAudio, CoreData, CoreGraphics, etc.
Microsoft would not have this problem if they did not abuse their monopoly. The idea is not to force Microsoft to allow the removal of every single feature, but to prevent them from abusing their monopoly. If they wrote their OS as independent and interchangeable components then it means Compaq, if they so wished, could replace IE7 with FireFox and everything would still work. Or HP could replace Windows Media Player with iTunes and everything would still work.
Apple actually does make it possible to delete everything; you'd have a fairly useless system, but just about everything can be deleted because everything is written as standalone components that utilize built in libraries. That is generally considered good engineering practice, while Microsoft's habit of integrating everything tightly is considered bad engineering practice.
Imagine if you couldn't replace your toaster without also replacing your fridge, oven, dishwasher, and smoke detector. That's how Microsoft builds Windows. Apple at least will create general purpose libraries that allow the application developer, including Apple, the ability to swap out libraries or swap out applications without interference.
There is a difference. Microsoft integrates both the library and the application, where Apple only integrates the library; you can choose to remove the application if you wish.
In addition there is a crucial difference that he failed to mention, and is why Microsoft is in trouble where Apple is not, and that makes all the difference.
Microsoft was found guilty of abuse of their monopoly, chiefly for threatening Compaq with withdrawing their Windows licenses if they bundled Netscape Navigator.
So three key differences now:
A) Microsoft is a monopoly, Apple is not
B) Microsoft integrates applications, Apple integrates libraries
C) Microsoft abused it's monopoly, Apple has no monopoly to abuse
A) is starting to change with the increasing popularity of the iPod. It remains to be seen if Apple will refrain from anti-competitive practices, such as bullying Walmart and Best Buy with the success of the iPod.
Of course, because MS has demonstrated anticompetitive behavior in the past. A link to a similar response to a similar post in this very article thread here!
The gist is: Microsoft threatened Compaq to pull their Windows license if Compaq installed Netscape Navigator. Apple has not done any such thing with their OS, so they aren't under scrutiny.
If you're going to complain about how people treat MS, at least understand WHY people treat MS differently too.
No, abusing your monopoly is bad.
If MS did not abuse their monopoly, then no problems would have occurred and no one would have complained.
What MS did, specifically, was to extort Compaq by threatening to withhold OS licenses if they shipped systems with Netscape Navigator as the default and on the desktop.
In other words, if Apple threatened Best Buy and Walmart into stopping sales of competitive MP3 players, or PCs, with their iPod dominance then Apple would be in the same boat.
They don't, so they aren't.
Apple originated software always seems a little lightweight:
iPhoto, Aperture, iChat, AddressBook, Pages, Keynote, iSync, Backup
However that doesn't make them poor or bad, and you are right that by v3 they are usually pretty good, sometimes even faster if it isn't a freebie.
Having played the game, I honestly don't see HOW you could do that.
How do you integrate into gameplay the scene where Axel goes, "Silly, some of us don't have next lives," or where Sora cries and says, "You know, I'm sad,"?
Movies and text are legitimate story telling mechanisms; games that utilize movies and text are richer than games that do not utilize movies and text, though not necessarily stronger.
Of course all that means is that KHII is a vehicle in which you play the game in order to see the movies; if you don't want to see the movies, there really is little point to playing the game*
*I love the Gummi Ship game, so I actually play the game to unlock more Gummi Routes and create cooler Gummi Ships.
I wouldn't, unless you want her to pick up sticks and beat her 4 year old brother to death!
Me, I'm 29, and I'm shocked at the amount of violence in this game. It felt like watching the Matrix series of movies!
Of course if you let your 5 year old neice watch the Matrix series, you're all set!
Hit pause and "Skip Scene"
Do that for the whole game, however, and you'll quickly discover that the cut scenes are important. They are the impetus for playing the game!
I dunno, holding hands doesn't seem to qualify as "sexual". On the other hand, "Physical contact with a female breast" seems to describe breastfeeding, doesn't it?
How empty. So is it "Looks high end" or "Sounds high end"? Did you read the article? They address stereo separation in the article, and the balance between size, portability, and affordability. I mean, you talk about how much you lose by going iPod enabled... how much do you lose by being tethered to a power cable? Or requiring a carrying case to move the speakers?
The trackpad interferes with the 12mm drive but not with the 9mm drive. I bet the edge of the trackpad, by his description, rests slightly over the 9mm drive, but the 12mm drive has no such leeway. On a 17" MBP there is no need for overlapping the devices because the 17" MBP is that much bigger than a 15" MBP
Again, read the post. The trackpad lies on top of the space the 12mm DL DVD-RW drive would sit, so they used the 8mm DVD-RW drive instead in the 15" MBP.
You mean the iTunes Music Store protected aac files, right? iTunes on its own has no DRM features.
I wouldn't venture that. They grew from 10,000 customers to 4.2 million customers; today they mail about 1.4 million DVDs a day, and if the ration of 1:3 held then they shipped 3,333 DVDs a day in the beginning.
At today's cost if the difference between the red envelope and a white envelope is $0.002, then NetFlix will be saving throughout the course of the year $1.022 million. If every envelope change cost them $10,000 in effort , and they changed envelopes 10 times then they will have spent $100,000 and saved $900,000 in this year alone.
Oh right, consumers don't care about looks, build quality, ease of use, or convenience any more? Storage density or price is all that matters now, right?
As a business Apple needs to maintain profitability. I'm sure they'll refresh to 6gb and 10gb later this year, but if they do it too early then the cost vs price is too high and if they do it too late then the sales interest will drop.
Where does OS X have DRM? I run OS X and I've never run into it.
Unless you're talking about encrypted volumes...
Well, I forgot to add cost. Does the plain white envelope do it cheaper?
We're sending DVDs.
In case you weren't aware, DVDs have several properties unlike letters:
1) Rigid
2) Reflective
3) Smooth
If your package alters any of those three properties then your DVD has become a coaster.
Additionally your package has other constraints outside of mailing DVDs:
1) Easy to use
2) Cheap
3) Useful
Cheap means making them lighter and more durable. Useful means making them more productive in the warehouse and as advertising. Easy to use means more users.
Playing a game is not like real life?
Guitar Hero:guitar::GTA:shooting a cop
If you want to learn the guitar, you get a guitar. If you want to shoot a cop, you get a gun.
If instead you want to have fun, you get Guitar Hero or GTA!
Well then, now you're comparing the SDKs from ID and Valve, aren't you? The original HL was based solidly on Quake, even if the engine was updated by Valve, so a lot of the basic stuff would still be sourced from ID.
The new HL2 is totally new, so there is no common descent from Quake3 or Doom3. Id's had several years and generations to get this stuff right, and Valve only one generation of development.
Just because you don't like the practice doesn't make it wrong.
If Apple release OS X 10.5 as a public beta with the written advisement that:
1) Your system may be corrupted at any time, so back up
2) Your system will expire in 40 days, so back up
3) Your system will be unstable, so back up
You actually have two choices:
Whether to install or not
Whether to back up or not
If you choose to install, Apple says, "Please back up often"
If you choose not to install, then you don't have to worry.
In no case has Apple wronged you, and the whole POINT of beta is to increase testing. Now Apple has real problems documented by users that they can fix. That is exactly how a successful beta works. Apple fixes the problems, and releases another beta, and users report more problems.
Everything is working as expected.
Games are just one of many activities a person can pursue. It doesn't seem surprising that teens would spend less time gaming if there are more things to do right?
Hard core gaming is no more unusual than hard core gardening or hard core house decoration. It's really just another hobby.